ICMPD and ILO organised a Listening Session for the European Higher Education Virtual Fair India 2019 (EHEVF 2019) in conjunction with ICM at the Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra in New Delhi, which gathered 94 students from/around New Delhi.
The EHEVF 2019 was organised by the Delegation of the European Union to India in collaboration with EU Member States and international stakeholders from 14-15 November, 2019. The main aim of EHEVF 2019 was to highlight the many benefits of Europe as a high standard higher education destination, to potential international students, researchers, and academics across India.
ICMPD presented a 30 minutes session on student mobility with Utrecht University. International staff from the University of Utrecht joined as a guest speaker to illustrate the type of support (on mobility) that Indian students can expect. As a result of the Listening Session, ICMPD will produce a podcast profiling India-EU student mobility, and will consist of the following discussion points:
- Introduction presenting the background, trends and the major topics related to Indian students abroad.
- Review of prevalent practices used by Indian students to procure information, financing and other means to reach EU universities (including expert voices from EU universities, student and agent/consultant interviews).
- Expectations and challenges faced by prospective Indian students to the EU: Using interviews with prospective students participating in the virtual fair listening session organized by ICMPD in Delhi, a narrative of expectations, apprehensions and perceived challenges will presented.
- Expectations and issues faced by EU based universities and stakeholders: Using key informant interviews with EU universities and other EU based stakeholders, key issues will be presented.
- EU Initiatives to allay challenges and facilitate Indian students: highlighting the various initiatives and steps taken up by the EU to facilitate the safe and easy mobility of Indian students to the EU will be presented.
- Next steps and Future of Indian student migration to EU: The future of Indian student movements to EU will be discussed and the key lessons learnt will be drawn on how to further facilitate and support students and universities.